Google changing how it updates Android Studio with Feature Drops

Android Studio, Google’s tool for building apps, is getting a new release cycle that aims to give developers “more frequent, focused updates” with Feature Drops.

In 2020/2021, Google started using animal codenames to signify major Android Studio releases. Each codename will now start with a “platform update” that’s then followed by a “feature drop.”

The first update brings the latest capabilities from Jetbrain’s IntelliJ IDEA platform that Android Studio is based on. This includes “usability, performance, and stability improvements,” like terminal and editor updates.

By focusing a whole release cycle on updating to the latest IntelliJ IDEA platform version, we’re able to get those changes into the Stable channel faster than with the previous release process — ensuring developers have access to the latest upstream features and improvements.

This is then followed by a feature drop that bring “new and updated features specifically designed for Android development,” like tools to help large screen form factor testing/optimization. It will become available in beta soon after the IDE platform update hits stable. For example, the upcoming Koala Feature Drop will add:

• A new sign-in flow that makes onboarding with multiple Google services, such as Firebase and Gemini in Android Studio, much easier
• Device UI Setting Shortcuts in the Running Device Window to quickly test your app against different device UI settings
• A new Gemini API template to help build Generative AI into your app

More features will be announced at I/O 2024. The versioning system is as follows:

<Year of IntelliJ Version>.<IntelliJ major version>.<Studio major version>

Additionally, each platform update and Feature Drop will get a new Android Gradle plugin version. 

Our primary goal with these changes is to ensure that important updates to the IntelliJ IDEA platform reach the Android Studio Stable channel more frequently, and new Android-specific features ship with higher quality and polish.

Android Studio Koala (2024.1.1) will hit stable in Q3 and the Koala Feature Drop (2024.1.2) is targeting Q4.